


Second Circle

by FrozenAbattoir



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11885145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenAbattoir/pseuds/FrozenAbattoir
Summary: At his core, Percival is a practical man. Sometimes keeping your most important promises means breaking some others.





	Second Circle

Vex was breathing, just barely. The grinding in her chest spoke of half a dozen broken ribs. Probably more. Her vision was clouding, drifting away into the blissful night like so many arrows on the wind. Arrows that didn’t find their mark. Didn’t make a difference. Didn’t change a goddamn thing…was this really how it ended? After traveling the world and gaining the favor of the fucking gods? 

No, not like this. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair, she seethed into the approaching void. There was no way in hell she would let herself die here, aboard this earthen monstrosity that time forgot-

A sudden surge of heat and light seized at something deep within Vex’s chest, and her vision returned with a flash. She was sprawled on her back facing a monstrously clouded sky. Vecna’s sky.

“Oh thank gods,” a weary voice gasped. Eyes still blurry, Vex’s unfocused gaze somehow drifted towards the gaunt, soot-covered face of Percival. Blood trickled down the side of his unshaven face, but his expression was one of relief. In his left hand, a ruined Diplomacy smoked and crackled.

“Per…cy,” Vex choked out. "Where...where is..."

"Shh, don't talk," he murmured hoarsely while brushing the hair from her eyes. "We're almost through this."  
He smiled reassuringly, but there was something behind his eyes that she couldn’t place. She frowned and tried to speak but this time her lungs wouldn’t cooperate. A coughing fit crowded out her words before they could form, leaving her winded and wheezing.

“Pike, we need you over here,” Percy called out.

A small figure swam into Vex’s field of view, her golden armor caked with dirt and gore. She patted Vex’s cheek and took one of the archer’s trembling hands into her armored grasp.

“You’re gonna be fine,” the gnome promised. She clutched her symbol of Sarenrae and began to radiate a soft glow. Vex nodded, fighting off rising nausea. 

Beside her, Percival rose to his feet and dropped a still-smoking Animus. In his gauntleted left hand he held a small scroll. The monstrous wax seal was vaguely familiar, but Vex’s scattered mind couldn’t place it. 

“Keep her safe,” he implored Pike. "I'll just be a moment."  
The cleric nodded distractedly, then paused. “Percy, where are you-?”

With a flourish, Percival unsealed the scroll and held it aloft. He regarded it for a moment, expression unreadable. Vex knew this scroll. But from where? Why wouldn’t her mind make the connections? And what was this slowly forming icicle in her gut?

“I, Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III of the royal house of Whitestone, invoke the third contract.”

**Author's Note:**

> Personally I hope this doesn't actually happen but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Godspeed, critters...I hope we can survive the finale.


End file.
